We, as duly authorized representatives of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, have been sent to Japan for the purpose of teaching the plan of life and salvation, as it has again been revealed from heaven by the true and living God to the Prophet Joseph Smith.
We earnestly entreat the people of this nation to fully investigate the message which we have come to deliver.
We testify that there is a God in heaven who is in very deed the Father of the spirits of all men. He is the Creator of heaven and earth, and all that in them is. He existed before the world was created; exists today and will exist forever. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. He is all powerful and to His wisdom there is no limit. He is no respecter of persons; is full of mercy, love and compassion, and is forgiving to all those who will repent of sin and seek Him and serve Him with full purpose of heart.
All men are well aware that compliance with the laws of a nation is absolutely necessary in order to become a citizen thereof, and the same applies with equal force to those who wish to become citizens of the kingdom of God. A knowledge of and compliance with God's laws is a matter of the most vital consequence to all men. These laws are contained in the divinely inspired books known as the Bible and Book of Mormon. We feel assured that all who will earnestly and fully investigate will come to a knowledge of the divine authenticity of these records.
For many hundreds of years after the creation of the earth God appeared in person, from time to time, and talked with His children and gave instructions as to what was necessary for them to do in order to be worthy, when this life was ended, to come back and dwell forever in His presence. A little over nineteen hundred years ago He sent His Son Jesus Christ to the earth to teach mankind the plan of life and salvation. Jesus is the Savior of the world, and faith on His name and obedience to His commandments will take us back into the presence of God where we shall dwell forever.
Jesus Christ called upon all men to repent, to live lives of righteousness and to be baptized in water for the remission of their sins, and made them the promise that if they would do this and keep His commandments they should know whether the doctrines He proclaimed were of God or man.
In the spring of 1820, God and His Son Jesus Christ visited the earth and talked with Joseph Smith. They afterwards sent heavenly messengers who gave him the necessary instructions and authority to establish on the earth the true Church of Christ. Some immediately accepted the doctrines which this prophet taught, but the majority misrepresented his teachings and persecuted him. False charges were preferred against him, and he was imprisoned many times, but upon trial was declared innocent of every charge. He lived a life of virtue and uprightness, maintaining, in the face of the most bitter opposition, his testimony as to the truths revealed to him from heaven. Finally, while he was in Carthage jail, Illinois, U. S., under the pledged protection of the state, awaiting a trial, to which he had voluntarily surrendered himself, the jail was attacked and he was murdered by a mob of wicked men. Thus did Joseph Smith, the Prophet of the nineteenth century, seal his testimony with his life's blood.
Dr. David Nelson in his book, "The Cause and Cure of Infidelity," says: "A true prophet is not applauded by a majority of the wicked or by the mass of the depraved. He is generally disliked by those furthest from God, and spoken evil of by those who sink deepest in sin. He is often not only reviled, but put to death if the laws permit; but the false prophet is neither stoned nor sawn asunder. He is often extolled greatly by the most dissolute, and is at least tolerated or praised to some extent by the leaders in depravity or the officers of sin."
Many people have spoken ill of the Latter-day Saints, or as we are commonly called "Mormons." We ask to be judged not by the false statements of our enemies, but by the infallible standard, "By their fruits ye shall know them." Wisdom dictates that no cause should be judged without a hearing, and least of all when only one side has been heard, and that the side of its enemies. The history of the Latter-day Saints is before the world and speaks for itself.
In a tract entitled "My reasons for leaving the Church of England and joining the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints," the writer says: "No one who will read the whole history of the Latter-day Saints with a truly honest and unprejudiced heart, and look upon the blessings of prosperity which they at present enjoy, can for a moment doubt that they are members of a church which is under the direct guidance of God through new revelation.